The Articulum
Part 4
By: Lance Holloway
The next day, the small band continued their journey through the
Forest of Trees. Turlon was not enjoying the trip at all. First, his
friend gets turned into a horse, while his horse changed into a "woman
who knows everything." Then a knight becomes a dragon because of a
sword. Turlon had never seen that much magic in his whole life. He felt
sorry for the transformees.
He would soon be in their situation, though. The little black box
he carried in his pouch was guiding him to his new life. His new body.
He wished he would be as happy as Jamk seemed. The whole day, Jamk
didn't say one thing against being a horse. Turlon wondered what changed
his attitude.
A large shadow blocked what little light found its way through the
trees. Turlon looked up and saw the shape of the dragon. "You are
almost out of the forest," yelled the dragon. Rarguf was flying above
the trees to scout ahead, but he is probably doing it to test out his new
wings.
"Thanks, Rarguf!" Arna yelled back.
"I can't wait to get out of this forest," Peten said riding Metty
up to get even with Turlon. "I don't think I could take another night of
those Gorrooks."
"Me neither," Turlon replied. "And it looks like we will get out
before nightfall."
"We are not out yet," Arna said as she trotted Jamk up to the two
boys. Vulla who was tied to Jamk followed. "Not all dangers come out
only at night."
"What do you mean?" Peten asked.
"There is still danger lurking around. We are not safe until we
get out of the forest," she explained. She moved ahead of the two.
Turlon and Peten just stared at her.
"Well, I feel better," Peten broke the silence.
"It's just ahead!" Rarguf updated them on their location. "Not
too much farther."
"Let's get out now!" Turlon said. He couldn't take the forest any
longer. Sure it was pretty. But, who has time to look at the scenery
when something might jump out and eat you? He swatted Dabb on the side.
Dabb took the hint and galloped as fast as he could.
"Turlon! Wait!" Arna shouted.
He didn't listen. Turlon steered Dabb through the trees and
bushes. Many branches reached out to knock him off. He avoided everyone
of them. He had to get out of the Forest of Trees. Dabb handled the
obstacles well. He earned the title of "Best Horse in the region."
Turlon saw sky. Not the sky above him, but sky in front of him.
Through the trees he saw the sky. He was there. He was at the edge of
the forest. Dabb made a fantastic leap through the last wall of bushes
and landed on the grassy plain. Turlon had to stop his horse, or he
would have kept running. He could tell that Dabb was eager to get as far
away from the forest has he was. But, he had to wait for the others.
Turlon dismounted Dabb and sat on the soft grass. He looked up at
the sky unbroken by tree limbs. "I hope they hurry up." A large object
landed behind him with a loud crash. Turlon sprang to his feet and
whirled around. Dabb was prepared to fight, also.
A huge mass of green scales wobbled to its feet. "I've got the
flying part down, but not the landing," Rarguf said. Turlon relaxed and
tried to calm Dabb. "Turlon, why did you run off? You would be safe
with Arna and Peten."
"I just couldn't take that forest anymore," Turlon said. "I
wanted to get out of there as soon as possible."
"I understand, but you shouldn't have deserted your friends.
They...." Rarguf trailed off. He stopped looking directly at Turlon but
beyond him. Turlon spun around. And he saw them. Things that looked
like men were coming out of the ground. "Dirt men!" Rarguf yelled.
The dirt men were visible in every direction. The fully formed
ones were mindlessly approaching. Rarguf blasted a huge flame to the
closer ones. The charred dirt continued to draw near.
Turlon pulled the sword his father gave him from Dabb's saddle
bag. It was an old sword, but it was better than nothing. The
larger-than-human dirt men were upon them. Turlon swung at the lifeless
beings. His sword cut one's arm off. The disconnected dirt fell to the
ground, only to be replaced by a new arm.
Dabb was holding his own by kicking. Knowing his flames were
useless, Rarguf was slashing with his claws and his huge tail. Turlon
continued to swing at the dirt men cutting off various limbs. The dirt
men would slow a little to regenerate a new appendage. One dirt man
tried to grab Turlon from behind. He spun around sword extended. The
attacker was sliced in half at the torso. Both halves fell to the ground
and became loose dirt.
"They can be killed!" shouted Turlon over the noise of battle. He
sliced through another the same way. It lost its form also. "Slice them
in half!"
"Roger!" Rarguf yelled back.
Turlon and Rarguf sliced and hacked all that came near in half.
The more dirt men that fell, the more that joined the battle. Turlon was
rapidly losing strength. Then he heard a sound. It was like chanting.
It drifted above the rumble of the dirt men's attack. The dirt men froze
in their tracks and merged back into the ground. Turlon, Rarguf, and
Dabb looked around confused.
Turlon looked toward the forest and saw Arna. She was standing
with her arms stretched out above her. Peten and the three horses
emerged from the forest as Arna lowered her hands.
"You shouldn't have run off, Norrom," she said as she walked over
to Turlon. He didn't like the inflection she gave his title.
"I wanted to get out of the forest," he said.
"That is no excuse." Arna turned to face the others. "We must
ride." She mounted Jamk. Vulla was still tied to him. "Swurg may not
stop at mere dirt men."
"Do you think Swurg did this?" Peten asked.
"Who else?" replied Arna.
Peten climbed on Metty as Rarguf took to the air. Turlon
reluctantly pulled himself onto Dabb's back. He didn't feel like riding
at the moment, but it would take him farther from the forest. The small
group rode to the rest of their journey.
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Swurg sat in his throne contemplating his plan to take the
Articulum from the Norrom. All he can really do now is to wait until the
Norrom has lead him to the location of the Articulum and then ambush his
group. It sounded easy, but so does most of his plans that fail.
There was a knock at the door. "You may enter," called Swurg.
One of his servants poked his head through the opening of the
door. Swurg remember him from a few days ago. He was the one that
announced that the Norrom had been found. It was rather easy since the
man had huge elephant ears.
"Master, I have bad news," the servant said.
"Not again," Swurg muttered under his breath. "What is it?"
"The Norrom's party has been attacked."
"What!?" Swurg leaped to his feet. "By whom?"
"Our spy reported that dirt men were sent by someone. We have not
discovered who," the servant replied.
"Well, find out!" yelled Swurg. He sat back down in his throne.
The servant stood in place. "Now! Find out now!"
"Yes, Master," the servant said. He turned toward the door and
walked out. Swurg noticed the new elephant tail poking out of the
servant's pants.
"He's going to have a surprise later today," Swurg thought to
himself. He leaned back comfortably in his throne. "Now, who could be
spoiling my plans?"